I played Game Boy Advance games on my iPhone last night thanks to a new emulator called iGBA, which appears to be the first Game Boy Advance emulator on the App Store since Apple started allowing emulators worldwide. The only problem is that it doesn't look like iGBA is the work of developer Mattia La Spina himself.
Despite that, he says it's Apple that frustrates him, not La Spina.
Testut also provided this statement to The edge:
I've been working with Apple to launch AltStore as an alternative app marketplace for over a month now, and I'm disappointed to see that they approved a knockoff of AltStore's flagship app, Delta, in that time. However, we are still planning to launch Delta as soon as possible and will have more to share on that very soon.
Here are some screenshots of GBA4iOS and iGBA for comparison, starting with iGBA.
When contacted for comment, La Spina did not explicitly confirm the use of Testut's code, but said The edge “They did not think that the application would have such an impact, I am very sorry” and added that they communicated with Testut by email.
The other problem with iGBA is that, according to your App Store listing, collects data that can be used to identify you, such as location data and identifiers. I would suggest reading developer Mattia La Spina's article. Privacy policy hosted on Github before diving in. However, the app didn't ask for location data permission when I loaded it and I didn't see the browser tracker consent form in the app. some Reddit users reported seeing.
I know another emulator, seen by The edge'yes Parker Orlotani. It is a Commodore 64 emulator. called Emu64 XL. Here I saw a consent request form full of options for what seemed like miles of trackers. I did not try to find or play any Commodore 64 games with Emu64 XL and deleted the application.
Apple has tightly controlled the App Store since its inception. That control is now being broken, with the EU Digital Markets Law forcing the company to allow other app stores and downloading on the iPhone. The company is also facing a lawsuit from the US Department of Justice that could force it to make similar concessions, which is why the company started allowing emulators in the first place. Whatever the case, allowing emulators feels like a victory; It's a shame that the first apps to take advantage of them aren't up to par.
Update April 14, 2024, 11:17 am ET: Updated with feedback from developers Riley Testut and Mattia La Spina.
